


Another Look

by MilenaDaniels



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Angst, Backstory, Brothels, Daniel Jackson Being an Asshole, Daniel growing as a person, F/M, Happy Ending, Qetesh (pre and post) backstory, Team, Vala has people who love her, Vala!childhood, retelling of violence, slut shaming (kind of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-09
Updated: 2012-11-09
Packaged: 2017-11-18 06:52:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/558114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MilenaDaniels/pseuds/MilenaDaniels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A follow-up mission turns out to be a look into a surprising side of Vala when SG1 travel to a planet she used to call “home.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Simple Flower

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first fic ever. It was a little painful to read through the first three chapters to remember how to tag it, the back three are where all the really good stuff is at. 
> 
> I'm transferring my fics to my new account here. This fic was first posted at Fanfiction.net and Livejournal April 24, 2007 and completed there on May 21, 2007.

They stepped onto the alien ground and paused to take in the sights and shake off the turbulent side-effects of gate travel. The stargate of this planet was ensconced deep in a lush forest on the top of a slight hill. There was a well trodden path leading away from the gate towards the nearest town.

Looking into the forest, Vala paused as the scene seemed all too familiar to her. She knew that big rock on the left, she knew that the birds singing were blue without seeing them and she knew from the delicious aroma that the pink flowers littering the surroundings were responsible. She'd been here before.

She'd been here before, she knew that much, the question was why, when and on what terms did she leave these people? The memory device had recovered all her natural memories which meant this place had either been repressed naturally or dated from much earlier times and considering her childhood, neither possibility inspired much confidence.

Cameron picked up on her unease.

"Something wrong?" he asked warily "We're not gonna find any more people you have unfinished business with, are we?"

Teal'c, Sam and Daniel looked over curiously.

"Honestly, Colonel, you always think the worst of me!" Vala protested.

He shared a glance with Daniel and stared pointedly at her. She grinned shamelessly.

"Oh alright, there might be some tiny, miniscule merit in your mistrust of my past but you really should work on that cynicism."

A roll of Daniel's eyes answered her as she continued.

"To be honest, I've no idea. I mean, I've been to so many worlds, met so many people, executed so many flawless…transactions…you can't expect a girl to remember ever single insignificant little planet, can you? Besides, my memories have been so tampered with, you're lucky I remember my own name."

Daniel winced slightly as he was reminded of the disastrous non-date and the agonizing weeks that followed until Vala's safe return. Picking up on his friend's distress, Teal'c sought to lighten the mood.

"Was your memory not slightly selective, even before tampering, Vala Mal Doran?" he questioned with a tilt of his head and a twinkle in his eye.

Wide, innocent eyes blinked in rapid succession.

"I have no idea what you mean."

By this time Daniel had recovered and interjected.

"Like that time my credit card went missing and you were so surprised to find it in your pocket, a week and three boxes of clothes later?" he glared.

"What!? When? Oh see!? See!? There is goes again, darned memory." She shrugged helplessly. "Well I'm sure it's nothing. My memory might be shot but my instincts are as finely honed as ever and I'm not getting any inexplicable urges to flee so I wager it's safe." She finished with a wide grin.

Sam and Cam shared a worried glance.

"Well I'm reassure." Cam droned.

"SG-3's already made contact with the nearest to the Stargate and reported a peaceful Medieval society. I'm sure we'll be fine." Sam added.

"Alright people, let's get a move on. We'll never know standing around here like daisies. You keep an eye out for anything else that jogs that 'selective' memory of yours." Cam ordered.

Vala grinned wide and snapped into a cheeky salute.

"Yes, sir!" she winked at Daniel. Cam sighed and took point.

SG-3 had made first-contact with the people of this planet last week. They reported a population of about 4 000 people whose technological progress seemed to have stalled at Medieval. The village, Creona, was supposed to be about a half hour walk just east of the gate. SG-1 walked at a comfortable pace, Sam explaining, well trying to explain, the scientific purpose of the mission to a befuddled Cameron. Teal'c was keeping a vigilant eye on their forest surroundings from the rear. Daniel was slightly more on edge than the situation probably merited but Vala was being quiet and he'd come to trust that as a sign of something amiss. Her silence, actually, was not a product of anxiety but rather an intense focus on the scenery, her cobalt blue eyes picking up every leaf, twig and animal in their path to try to rekindle the feeling of déjà vu she got stepping foot on the planet.

It was infuriating to recognize everything without being able to attach any names or personal recollections to the sensation. It wasn't until they'd almost reached the town that something struck her.

She stopped suddenly with a small gasp. Four pairs of eyes quickly scanned around before swinging to settle on their comrade. It was a well used trail leading from the path deeper into the forest that had caught her attention.

"Vala?" Daniel approached her but before his hand could touch her arm, a small smile graced her lips and she set off confidently onto the trail.

"Vala?" Sam echoed. Still no answer as Daniel followed hesitantly.

"Jackson." Cam intoned concerned but Daniel didn't stop.

Vala had heard the exchange but kept trudging onward. She wasn't looking for anything in particular but she knew something would find her. Eight more steps, around a slight bend and there they were. She looked down at the ugliest flowers she'd ever seen and was entranced. They weren't pretty, not decorative in the least.

"But they aren't meant to be, are they." She mumbled aloud.

They were a dull orange with skinny brown pieces shooting from the center. The only piece of beauty was a bluish-purple stain grazing the edge of each petal but it was too small to add to the overall aesthetic of the plant.

Vala crouched down to pick one and held it reverently as if it held the key to the universe.

Suddenly finding her earlier musing odd, she began to wonder what purpose this flower could serve. She brought it closer and inhaled deeply. As the aroma assaulted her, she fell to her knees letting the pictures, voices and emotions whirling around her mind tell their story. She recalled morning walks to pick this hideous plant, the sirlan flower it was called. It was used medicinally: poultices, smelling salts, teas. She knew this flower intimately, she'd needed it for such a long time. Why? A woman was smiling at her, changing her bandage. Najas! Mother Najas and her daughters, all beautiful in her mind but nameless for now. She knew this planet, had spent many many months here.

As the few flashbacks ended, the real world stepped back in. She became aware of two beautiful azure eyes looking down at her in concern.

"Vala! Are you alright?" Daniel's voice cut through the voices and sounds in her head.

She glanced past his shoulder to see that her other teammates had followed them down the trail with their weapons at the ready.

"I'm alright, darling." She soothed placing a delicate hand on his jaw, noting her position on the ground and Daniel's arms supporting her back.

"Though had I known this was all it took to be in your arms.." She never finished the sentence as Daniel dropped her with a shake of his head and moved away.

"What happened?" Cameron piped up.

She grinned and shot up with a renewed zeal for their mission, the sirlan flower still clutched firmly in her hand.

"No need to worry, my dear Colonel, this planet is completely harmless."

She sauntered past him, patting him on the shoulder.

"That memory suddenly cleared up, did it?" he questioned sardonically.

"As a matter of fact, it did!" Vala was practically skipping down the trail back to the main path.

"Care to clue us in?" he persisted as the team made their way out of the thick forest.

She smiled beatifically.

"Certainly, I'll tell you all about it on the way. Come on, come on!" she urged.

The others hesitated as they faced an overexcited former space pirate. She sighed.

"Oh fine, this town? Creonas? I lived here for quite a while some years back. I can't quite seem to recall the specific details but I do know I have many friends here." She finished with a grin and turned back toward the town.

"Hold up there princess, what kind of friends are these exactly? Cuz I recall some of your other 'associates' not being the friendliest bunch." Cameron pressed.

"I told you, they're harmless." She bit her lip in concentration. "I know I've never traded with these people. I never had any deals on this planet. Whenever I lived here, it was before my days of more questionable dealings. I needed help, they took me in. I lived with a woman named Najas and her daughters for months. They're good people." She answered with an uncommon air of serious sincerity.

Cameron seemed satisfied and SG-1 resumed their trek toward Creonas. Silence fell over them for barely a minute before Sam piped up with a question.

"Help with what?"

"Hm?"

"You said this woman, Najas? She took you in when you needed help? I was just wondering what you needed help from." Sam elaborated cautiously.

Vala pursed her lips in thought.

"I'm not sure actually. There are still some fuzzy spots." Vala started and Daniel's cough sounded suspiciously like a snort. She ignored him and continued as they started down the last hill leading to the town.

"I remember being here for at least two winters but only actually being out in one. I think I was injured for the first one. Really, I'm not sure. And I feel as if I'm not remembering the whole story behind Najas and her daughters, she had so many."

She frowned at that but as she heard the suspicious words coming out of her mouth, she hurried to reassure them.

"Nothing sinister, I'm sure, it feels more like a …comical discomfort."

In the face of puzzled glances and raised eyebrows she could do nothing but shrug and trudge on. Their curiosity more than peaked, they followed their newest member into the town.


	2. A Former Daughter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter (I didn't know how to segment things back then). Also, the first two paragraphs refuse to unglue themselves no matter what I do. Sorry if it's hard to read!

They passed several villagers as they made their way to the town center. As a scantily clad young woman leered seductively at Mitchell, Vala suddenly recalled exactly why the idea of Najas and her daughters hadn't sat well with her earlier. She laughed inside as she realized that there was no problem with the people themselves but with the terminology. Oh well, she thought, no reason to spoil the surprise. She strolled on ahead, scanning the town for familiar landmarks.  
Daniel wasn't far behind but wasn't nearly as interested in the town layout as his raven-haired teammate seemed to be. Thinking about Vala's discovery in the forest, he'd realized that they would be getting the chance to meet people who'd known Vala before her pirating ways, before the lying and the stealing. He looked over to her, engrossed as she was in the buildings they passed, his mind superimposing various possible personalities on his image of her. He couldn't do it. He was sure she couldn't always have been this way but nothing he thought up seemed plausible. He supposed she could have, theoretically, always been this person minus the illegal activities…but that didn't sit well either. She was so frustrating!

"No, it can't be." Daniels musings were cut short by a voiced heavily laced in disbelief.

They turned to see a middle aged woman peering wide-eyed at Vala. Vala's own eyes narrowed in cautious suspicion as she studied the woman before her. Plump with mousy brown hair and matching eyes she didn't seem threatening in the least but the way she held herself showed a strength and self-assuredness that could only have been acquired through a life of hard days survived. There was something else about her, something that Daniel found oddly familiar about this woman. Her eyes, he realized. He saw the same spark in her eyes that he saw in Vala's, the twinkle that promised secrets and mischief.

Vala's heart recognized this woman but her mind was not cooperating.

"Vala, dearheart, is it really you?" The woman came closer and peered expectantly at the former space pirate.

The woman sensed poor Vala's mental block and as if hearing her plea for a clue, she smiled enigmatically and pushed her long brown hair behind her right ear revealing its pointed shape.

Vala gasped in recognition and smiled wide as memories of teasing this woman with pixie ears surfaced.

"Sinali!" she breathed.

Vala rushed forward and threw her arms around the smaller woman, squeezing her tightly. Sinali laughed and dropped the basket she'd been holding to properly greet her old friend.

Taking in the scene before him, Daniel's heart gave a jerk but he shook the feeling away for later dissection and analysis.

The two women broke apart but stayed close.

"I've missed you so much, Sini." Vala gushed.

"Ha!" she balked "says the girl who couldn't remember my name a minute ago!"

Vala shrugged guiltily and figure this would be a much opportune moment to introduce her old and new friends to each other.

Lacing her arm with Sinali's, she dragged the older woman closer to the team.

"Sinali, these are my friends and teammates. This is Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Colonel Samantha Carter, Teal'c and the delectable Dr. Daniel Jackson." She finished with a cheeky wink at Daniel who frowned in annoyance. Whether he was annoyed by the wink, his description or the slight flush that had crept up his face was anybody's guess.

Sinali nodded to them in greeting.

"Not bad, not bad at all. It seems you were actually listening all those years ago." She looked everyone's favourite archeologist up and down. Daniel's flush turned into a moderate blush.

SG-1 was blown away to see Vala look to the ground sheepishly. She cleared her throat and continued with the introduction.

"Guys, this is Sinali, a daughter of Najas, the woman-."

"Ha!" Sinali interrupted incredulously "former daughter of Najas, dearheart. Honestly girl, a daughter still? At my age?" she laughed raucously.

"Oh sweet girl, you always were good for a laugh." She wiped a tear that had escaped her violent laughter and locked onto Vala's elbow, directing her into the village.

"Come, girl, I should take you to Najas. She'll want to know you're still alive and well." She sighed chuckling "A daughter still.."

She pinched Vala's cheek patronizingly, instructed Cameron to be a gentleman and carry her forgotten basket and told the others to follow saying Najas would want to meet the people her young Vala associated with these days.

As the two women and the dutiful Cameron forged ahead, the rest of the team hesitated in befuddlement.

"How do you stop being someone's daughter?" Sam pondered and turned to Daniel who was focused on another question.

"Not bad? What did she mean 'not bad'?" he frowned doubting he'd like any answers to that.

Teal'c walked around the two doctors.

"Should we not follow before we lose them?" he suggested.

Sam and Daniel stepped forward, following his lead, wondering why there was a smirk on his face. He knew something.

"Teal'c? What do you know?" Daniel questioned.

He was met by a bemused silence. They shared another glance and resigned themselves to holding their questions for later.


	3. A Heartfelt Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes from the original posting: "Wow, well I promised length and length you have. 11 pages people! 3760 words! I actually wrote like 18 pages but decided to split it into two separate chapters. Anyway, hope it was worth the wait! Read on."

Daniel blinked. Once. Twice. Nope, the image wasn't clearing. This couldn't possibly be the right place!

Sinali had led them on a fifteen minute stroll through the maze that was Creonas to finally arrive in front of a huge four-story establishment. The building took up most of the side street it was situated on and was definitely not decorated to be discreet. The trims that covered every manmade hole in the wall were a deep redwood, ornately carved with beautiful motifs. There was no front lawn to speak of but there was a massive veranda that seemed to surround the house. The edifice itself was made of a white material that gleamed in the noon sun like the modern remains of ancient Greece.

The house made a statement, to say the least, and yet, not one member of SG-1 spared it a second glance. More eye-catching than the architectural treat before them were the dozen or so gorgeous young women buzzing around the house doing various chores. Some girls pinned wet clothes to the clothesline in the back while others carried baskets of apples from the orchard into house. There were two girls sweeping the impressive entryway and three more could be seen airing out linens from the open windows on the upper floors.

 _Spring cleaning never looked so good_  was the thought running through Cameron's mind but he shook it clear as a busty blonde picking up an empty wicker basket caught his attention.

"Sweet baby Jesus" Cameron exhaled slowly in awe.

"Is it a sorority?" Sam asked aloud.

"I do not believe this to be a sorority house, Colonel Carter." Teal'c's deep voiced sound behind her.

Daniel was conflicted. He had his own theory about what this imposing structure held but it wasn't good and voicing it aloud would make it more probable in his head so he kept quiet.

Sinali and Vala were leaving their sight again so they jogged to catch up to them.

* * *

As soon as she'd seen the house at the turn in the road, Vala's stomach had started fluttering. She still didn't have much memory of this place but she felt a deep fondness for the older woman her mind had named Najas. Sinali had been talking her ear off the whole walk over and from what Vala could ascertain, she wasn't wrong in her assumptions that her affections for Najas were reciprocated. The idea that she knew someone who cared for her in such a way was something she held dear to her. Such people were a rarity in her life.

She tried to quiet her nerves and headed for the gigantic front door but Sinali once again clamped onto her elbow and lead her around the around.

"Not that way. It's midday, Mother will be in the kitchen preparing the meal." she informed Vala.

Right, sure, of course. She knew that.

Sinali brought her past the great doors and around to the east side of the house where a much smaller, more homely looking door was open and letting out the most delicious aromas Vala could remember smelling in a long time. She inhaled deeply and almost tripped over her feet as a new memory assaulted her.

"Pikori stew." she said softly.

Sinali stopped short and smiled wide.

"Yes! Well done!" she congratulated "Why am I not surprised that it's Mother's food that cures your memory?" she winked genially.

The kitchen was a vast room with two stoves and two long island counters in the center to accommodate the many workers. There were at least three girls at each counter peeling, chopping, crushing, plucking and stirring their various food items. The floor was tiled but the nice dark blue colour was mostly hidden by flour and various other debris. The pots on the stove were boiling and the girl attending them was wiping sweat from her brow.

Sinali started shouting as soon she stepped foot in the stifling kitchen, dragging Vala along with her.

"Mother! Mother! I found a stray! May we keep her?" she shouted into the air, motioning for Vala to keep quiet.

Many curious girls looked excitedly at Sinali but upon seeing her hands free from any poor animal, they quickly turned back to their assigned tasks.

An incensed voice sounded from what looked to be a walk-in pantry off the left wall of the kitchen.

"Sinali! That better not be you and you'd better not be holding some dirty little mongrel in my clean kitchen!" a woman's voice bellowed.

Sinali laughed quietly and added a whine in her voice.

"But Mother!! She's soo pretty! And she looks clean, skinny though! She's skin and bones, the poor thing! It's really too pathetic, Mother, I can't send her away." she described looking Vala up and down.

She thought she really should be insulted but she was too focused on the open pantry door. They heard a jar being slammed down and scuffling feet getting closer.

"Sinali Lamar! So help me child, we are  _not_  a kennel, we are  _not_  a foster house for wounded pups and you'll get a firm hand to the back of that graying head of yours if you guilt one of the new girls into taking care of it in hiding again!" Mother Najas finally appeared, scowling at her former daughter.

"Do you hear me, Sina?" she demanded.

Vala had her first look at the woman from her fuzzy memory. Mother Najas was an intimidating woman. She was tall but she also took up most of the width of the doorway she was standing in. Her arms were the size of small trees; her legs were the size of slightly bigger trees. She was a very round woman with a stern, tanned face. Her dark gray hair was long but neatly tied up in a bun high on the back of her head with only a few wisps having escaped, most likely due to the active day she seemed to be having.

Mother Najas stared expectantly at Sinali for a few seconds before noticing the staring figure behind her.

"Oh my - " she breathed, thick hand going to her mouth.

Sinali, the traitor, moved out of the way and left Vala standing completely exposed to Mother Najas's perusal. Neither women was aware of it but the sounds of steady chopping and stirring was halted as the girls were again distracted by the new developments.

"Vala." Mother Najas accused softly.

Intimidated, the newly reformed space pirate could only nod and smile weakly. She was too overcome to even notice the rest of her team amble stiffly up behind her, into the kitchen. Their arrival broke whatever spell had come over the elderly woman and she hobbled her way through the kitchen to Vala in surprisingly good time.

"Oh child!" she uttered affectionately, gathering the smaller woman close to her chest.

Escape from the massive arms was impossible but Vala wasn't looking for an out. She wrapped her arms around Mother Najas as best she could and squeezed with all her might, trying to fight back the small tears accumulating in her eyes. For goodness sake, she didn't even really  _know_  this woman!

Releasing Vala, Mother Najas held her at arms length to get a good look at the damage the times had left. Vala thought that the words that next left her mouth must be universal to all the good mothers of the galaxy.

"You're too skinny!" she said sternly.

Vala let out a small laugh.

"Where have you been, kika? It's been so long" Mother Najas scolded.

Vala winced.

"It's a very long story, Mother." Vala said preferring to delay the retelling of the last ten miserable years since she'd left this safe haven.

"Then we'll discuss it after the meal. And I assume these people are yours?" she pointed to SG-1 who still stood in the kitchen doorway.

Vala looked on them fondly.

"They're the best part of that frightful story." she replied.

"Ah, then, you are welcome in the house of Najas." She greeted them with her usual matronly style. "Come in children, don't be shy. I am Mother Najas, you may call me Mother. Let's go somewhere more private to talk." she suggested gently.

As she turned to start toward the door at the far end of the kitchen she stopped short. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and the still picture before her.

"What are you doing, you nosy bums! It's meal time and we've guests to feed. Who told you to stop! Slackers is what you are! And no manners whatsoever. Honestly, why do I put up with you?" she bellowed, startling the girls back into action, as she guided the rest toward the next room. "Useless, daydreaming, nonsensical, good-for-nothing.." she muttered under her breath.

Just before she reached the hallway she turned for a quick second.

"Sinali! You're in charge. See to it that these lollygaggers scrounge up a decent meal!" she yelled before calming drastically. "Come children, this way."

"Yes, Mother, don't you worry!" Sinali shouted from across the room, moving to take her basket from Cameron before he left.

He bent down slightly.

"I thought you weren't a daughter anymore." he teased.

She raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"Uh huh, and I suppose you'd refuse that woman??" she demanded before she turned to her supervising task.

Please, he was a decorated lieutenant-colonel in the Air Force, battling parasites and religious nuts across two galaxies… but he was still his Mama's boy at heart. He only prayed Mother Najas would be too busy with Vala to notice the rest of them.

* * *

"Come in, come, sit down. Laisha, drinks!" she ordered to a young girl who scurried out of the room.

Introductions had been made on the way though Vala had kept herself from elaborating on Daniel's assets this time. Mother Najas had brought them out of the kitchen, down a nondescript hallway and into a magnificent sitting room. It was very spacious, with grand windows and sofas arranged close to the elaborate fireplace. It was such an odd house, decorated in some areas, bare in others. Daniel mentioned this as they took seats on the sofas.

"This area is more decorated for entertainment purposes, Dr. Jackson." Mother Najas explained.

Noticing his slight flush as his denial was being cracked through, she nodded.

"Yes, that kind of entertainment. My daughters are the most highly sought after girls in this part of the galaxy." She said with pride.

Daniel winced. It hadn't just been his imagination.

"So this  _is_  a ..bordello?" he asked gently trying to pull all judgment from his tone.

"I don't know this word. This is a house of pleasure, of companionship for those whose lives are lacking." She said

"And pay the right price." Damn, his morals always seemed to trump his survival instincts.

"Wait, what's going on?" Cam piped up. "Cuz it sounds like she's saying this isn't a sorority."

"I don't think it is" Sam said.

"It's Memoirs of a Geisha, without the Japanese influence." Daniel supplied.

Sam nodded slowly in understanding but Cam still looked confused.

"It's a Pretty Woman sorority house." Daniel tried again.

Of course it was.

"Ahh, I see. Well it's a lovely place." He declared to Mother Najas.

Don't let it ever be said Cameron Mitchell wasn't polite.

Teal'c had kept quiet during the whole conversation. He'd already known what this place would yield, ever since Vala had mentioned the term 'daughters'.

"Indeed, your house is well known among the Jaffa." Teal'c said.

Mother Najas beamed while SG-1 fell into an uncomfortable silence. Fortunately, Laisha chose this time to return to with the drinks. As she placed the tray on the table, Cameron piped up again.

"Ah, I don't mean to be rude, Mrs…Mother Najas, but we've gotta be headin' out. We are supposed to be meetin' with a town representative soon and we don't even know where it is." he apologized.

"Oh, of course, I understand. Well Vala will stay here, won't you?" she asked Vala who looked over to Cameron for permission.

He nodded his assent and she smiled wide.

"Good good, we've much to catch up on. Laisha, fetch Rana. She will bring you wherever you need to go." she offered them and saw them to the door.

"And then you will return here, we will have the evening meal together, and you will stay the night." her tone allowed no chance for argument.

Cameron nodded quickly.

"Be back in jiffy."

* * *

After they'd left, Vala had caught Mother Najas up on the last ten years dealings…lightly, anyhow. She desperately wanted to ask how she had come to be here in this town over a decade ago but didn't quite know how to go about it. How do you tell someone you don't really remember more than their name?

Just as she was finishing her story, a loud clatter came from the kitchen and they jumped to their feet to see what the problem was. It turned out to be nothing big, a chicken had escaped its imminent death and had run amok in the kitchen, startling the girls into dropping whatever they'd been holding. Sinali had made quick business of resetting the order but Mother Najas had felt the need to stay and supervise the last of the meal preparations.

As the girls finished and cleaned up, Mother Najas sent them to the dining room to eat and get out of her hair. She had Sinali fetch two girls whose names, Te'ali and Sunera, sounded familiar but Vala whose faces were absent from her mind. Then, the portly woman had Vala get plates and utensils from the cupboard for them all while she searched for bread to serve with the Pikari stew. The routine activity was soothing to Vala's still frazzled nerves but the peaceful quiet didn't last as long as she would have liked. Sinali returned promptly with two women smiling excitedly in tow.

As they flew towards her, Vala suddenly remembered which was which. Te'ali was the woman with olive skin, black hair and pure green eyes. Her hair was perpetually curled though Vala knew it wasn't natural, and her entire demeanor showed irreverence for authority and conformity. Sunera was the tamer looking girl. She had mahogany brown hair flowing to her waist, with pale, freckled skin. Her brown eyes were big and round in her heart shaped face. All of this, Vala noticed in the span of the few seconds it took both women to see her, make their way across the room and launch themselves at her.

"Vala!" they'd yelled.

A barrage of too-familiar questions flew at her while she tried not to lose her balance with both women squeezing the air out of her.

"Where were you?"

"What are these clothes?"

"You're too skinny!"

"Why didn't you send word?"

"Girls!" Mother Najas's bellowing caught their attention and they finally released a breathless Vala.

"Sorry, Mother." they both intoned, one more sincere than the other.

"It's meal time, make yourselves useful! Serve the stew and sit down. Tori should be here soon enough with the rest of our guests." she ordered.

"Tori?" Vala inquired.

Te'ali and Sunera both broke out in giggles but did as they were told.

As they ate, Mother Najas spared Vala of having to retell the whole story by paraphrasing quite succinctly.

"She left, met up with her father, became a pirate, pirated, met the Tau'ri, reformed and came back. Understood?"

"Yes, Mother." they chimed though Te'ali's eyes shone with a promise that details would be hunted for later.

SG-1 and this Tori person hadn't arrived yet but Mother Najas loathed needless idling so they ate, cleaned up and broke out ingredients and baking pans to make apple pies for the evening meal. Just because one returned from a decade-long absence did not mean one could ignore chores nor did they magically disappeared.

They chatted while the prepared the dough and filling and Vala's memories of these women slowly sifted in.

While Sinali had been the oldest daughter when Vala lived here, Te'ali and Sunera had been just a bit older than Vala herself. Today they must have been in their mid-thirties making them the eldest daughters. They would be retiring soon, like Sinali had. She remembered that these two women were always joined at the hip though their personalities couldn't be more different. Te'ali was brazen, her sexuality blatant and she wasn't afraid to speak her mind. Sunera, on the other hand, was quieter, docile; she was tempting in the naivety she exhibited. Te'ali's favourite pastime had always been teasing her friend with the fewest obscene words possible. It was ridiculous really that a woman in her line of work could be so easily embarrassed but her complexion wouldn't hide her distress. Her pale skin turned a fiery red and it was Te'ali's goal in life to shorten the length of time it took for it to happen.

As Vala laughed along with the other women and Sunera covered her ruby cheeks once again, she felt a peace she hadn't known in a long time. She wished she could remember.

* * *

SG-1 was to meet with the First Tradesman of Creonas. This entire planet seemed to be oriented towards business, there was no room for politics. As such, there was no government to speak of. This society worked on a set of unwritten rules where a person's word meant something and disputes were settled by the First Tradesman who, as far as Daniel could discern, was a fancy title for the Import/Export Manager.

His name was Toran Maliyek and SG-1 had nothing but praise for him. He was a fair man with equal amounts of professionalism and charm. He was much loved by the entirety of the townspeople. He was apparently very hands-on in what leadership capacities he upheld, as opposed to many worlds where leaders abused their powers for their own personal gain.

Rana led them through the town a short five minutes to a modest sized building, much less extravagantly designed than that of Najas. Maliyek was waiting for them in his office as they arrived.

"Hello, welcome, welcome." He stood to greet them. "Please, sit. Can I get you something to drink?" he offered but they declined with their thanks.

Toran Maliyek was a tall man with broad shoulders. He looked to be just slightly older than them and other than a bit of gray at each temple his body didn't seem to be betraying him. The rest of his hair was a dark brown, almost black. His eyes were a rich liquid brown that could make the toughest feminist swoon with delight. It was his smile though: it was gorgeous and infectious.

"Rana, can I help you?" he smiled at the daughter of Najas.

Rana's ruby lips quirked slightly as she looked him up and down and said "Not today. I was only meant to lead them here. I have to return to the house."

"Another time then." he nodded genially. Daniel wondered darkly if the First Tradesman got special discounts at the House of Najas.

Rana sashayed out of his office and Maliyek's attentions returned to SG-1. They made their introductions and the First Tradesman insisted they call him by his given name, a courtesy they returned to him.

"I hope our meeting wasn't an inconvenience to your plans in Creonas. Your people, SG-3 was it, gave me no reason to suspect any ill-will and I'm sure you all are just as fine people." Toran started.

"Not at all, we love meeting new people. We don't like strangers playing in our yard either. It's a lot more fun when we're already friends." Cameron assuaged.

Toran laughed and slapped in desk lightly.

"Yes! Very well put, Cameron. I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

"Thank you, by the way, for letting us study the minerals buried under the ruins outside your town." Sam said.

"Oh, think nothing of it, really. We're a business people, we've not much scientific inclinations. Those ruins have been laying there gathering dust, ruining the nearby property value for centuries. I'm just glad someone's finally found a use for them. I hope your findings will be beneficial and that you won't mind sharing them with us." He finished with a wink.

"O-of course not."

Oh...my...god, did she just stutter?

Daniel decided he should explain their tardiness and save Sam from the mortification she was facing.

"Let me make our apologies for being so late. We, um, encountered an unexpected situation on our way into town." Daniel told Toran who immediately looked alarmed.

"Yes, I was told there would be five of you coming. No one was hurt I hope?"

"Oh! No, no, no, nothing like that. Our fifth teammate, uh, Vala, realized she'd stayed on this planet for, uh, quite some time in the past. She's just catching up with old friends right now."

Toran fell still, his eyes wide.

"Vala?" he sounded.

Daniel frowned.

"Mal Doran, Vala?" Toran asked softly.

Daniel looked to the others quickly before affirming their teammate's identity.

Toran rose from his chair in a daze and the others got up as well, wary of what was going on.

"Black hair, blue eyes, gorgeous Vala?" he persisted excitedly.

This could not be good.

"It appears we have a mutual friend, Toran Maliyek." Teal'c intoned.

Toran smiled.

"I, we, that is..well yes. She's here? On Creonas, now?" Toran questioned.

"At Mother Najas's house." Sam replied.

His smiled widened and Daniel's frown deepened.

"Yes, of course, where else would she be?" Toran spoke rhetorically.

He ushered them to his office door.

"Yes, well, allow me to escort you back. The streets of Creonas can be so very confusing and I've so carelessly sent your guide away. Come." he offered, oh so magnanimously, from six feet down the hallway.

Why were they always running to catch up to people here?

 


	4. A World of Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The good stuff begins! Brace for angst!

She was here. Vala was here. Vala Mal Doran, here. Ha! No matter how many times he repeated it in his head he just couldn't believe it. It'd been so long. He remembered her midnight black hair, her evening-blue eyes and her red-dawn lips. Her spirit was what stuck out in his mind the most though. She had an indefatigable energy in everything she did, in fact he didn't think he had a single memory where she wasn't running or bouncing or just being generally animated. He had been completely smitten by her ten years ago and the very thought of her presence in Creonas was enough to make his stomach flutter now. He hastened his pace and spared half a thought to hoping the Tau'ri team was still behind him. He couldn't spare the whole thought to actually check.

Since her departure ten years ago, he'd met and married Nanisa, a woman he loved more than he'd thought would ever be possible. The day his son Toranou was born was still both the best and worst of his life. His son was beautiful and healthy but his wife had not survived the birth. He had raised Toranou alone for the past 8 years despite the fact that every eligible daughter was thrust into his face by eager, well-meaning mothers. He had never been able to think of remarriage. Funny how he thought of that just now…

He lengthened his stride again.

* * *

SG-1 had practically jogged the whole way back to Mother Najas's house, trying to keep up with their overzealous guide.

To say the sight that greeted them as they marched back into Mother Najas's kitchen was bizarre was an understatement. The kitchen girls had left and there were only five women now seated at one of the island counters, two strangers, Sinali, Mother Najas and Vala, and they appeared to be…baking? The brown-haired girl's face was in her hands and the others were laughing hysterically while kneading dough.

They looked over to Toran to see what effect the scene had on him but he seemed to have checked out for the afternoon. His jaw was slack, his eyes wide and his face pale. He saw nothing but Vala.

The laughing ceased finally when an exuberant Te'ali jumped up and saucily made her way over to the group.

"Toriiiiii!" she greeted the First Tradesman with glee and turned to the gorgeous men of SG-1.

"Hello there. Welcome to the House of Najas. I'm Te'ali, how can I be of service to you?" she sauntered cheekily to Cameron who suddenly developed a coughing fit.

"Down girl, they're not clients, they're guests." Mother Najas scolded lightly.

Te'ali pouted as retook her seat, pointing at her friend. "In that case, this is Sunera." she smiled wickedly.

Sunera glared at her and waved to the group and more introductions were made.

Toran didn't hear any of this as he watched the other raven haired vixen as if she was an apparition come to steal his soul. Vala searched her memories for any part that would feature this dashing man but came up empty.

Sunera looked concerned. "You don't remember Toran, Vala?"

Toran looked wounded and Vala felt guilty.

Te'ali, however, felt remorseless as she plucked a ripe, red apple out of Sinali's basket.

"Vala!" she called as she threw it at her.

Vala caught it with grace and raise her eyebrow in amusement when Toran jerked to protect himself.

The women of the house laughed raucously at his knee-jerk reaction and a memory suddenly blossomed in Vala's mind.

"Oh Tori! Little Tori!" she giggled. "The poor boy who was attacked with apples."

He scowled.

"Yes, by you!" he complained.

"What? Me? Why would I attack you with apples?" she asked, taken aback by the accusation.

"I don't know, I didn't know then and I still don't know ten years later! I had just asked you if you'd care to take a nice, innocent stroll with me and you went completely wonko!" he griped.

Vala's eyes swept the floor as she raked through her memories of this man. Finally her eyes narrowed and she jumped off the stool to approach him.

"I remember now!" she accused, " 'Nice, innocent stroll', Toran? No stroll taking place at night, in the moonlight, along the lake, leading to the SHED behind the big coran tree is an innocent one! I knew what you were asking after, Toran Maliyek, you're just sore you didn't get it!" she said poking him hard in the chest.

He had the grace to look somewhat ashamed but he still grumbled, "I'm fairly sure I was sore because you violently attacked me with a bushel of apples!"

"I did no such thing!" Vala dismissed breezily.

"Actually, dearheart, you did." Sinali said from her stool.

Vala winced, "I did?"

"Oh yes, all we heard was a shriek coming from the orchard. We thought you'd fallen off your ladder and rushed outside to see Toran limping out quicker than a hunted hare. Very well-aimed apples were hurtling past his head." Mother Najas recalled fondly.

"Oh. Well then…oops." Vala shrugged.

"Oops??" Toran was incensed,

"Oh yes, and didn't I get you in a very  _sensitive_  place with my basket?" Vala asked sweetly.

"I was blue for two weeks!" he yelled.

"Well, I'm sure you thought twice before you tried to use it again, didn't you?" Vala patronized.

"Yes, that was the day Toran Maliyek, the town's most ruggedly handsome and charming bachelor, became known as little Tori." Te'ali snorted.

"It was quite serious, really it was." Sunera sympathized with earnest eyes "We were all afraid he'd never have children. The town held its breath until his wife Nanisa announced she was pregnant." She explained to the newcomers. "See her to peace" she added the prayer for Toran, who smiled his thanks.

Te'ali's eyes narrowed in evil delight.

"I still say little Toranou looks remarkably like the Second Tradesman, Najiso Kelim, I know for a fact that  _he_ 's still in one piece." She smirked until Mother Najas smacked her in the back of the head.

"Alright, enough, children come eat." She ordered SG-1.

"Tori, are you joining us?" she asked and he winced at the nickname, she was one of the only people who could get away with it.

"No, thank you Mother, I need to get back to my work." He declined politely. "I just wanted to see if the rumours were true, that the kika was back in town." He smiled slightly in Vala's direction who stuck her tongue out at him in good fun.

"Tori, you'll be arranging the party?" Sinali ordered with a question-camouflage.

"Ooof course I will." He agreed hesitantly with a practiced smile and he left after saying his goodbyes. Seeing Vala again was hard on his remaining nerves.

"Party?" Vala said while Sunera got up to serve her team the fantastic stew she'd had earlier.

"Of course, dearheart. Your welcome-home party!" Sunera smiled.

Something in Daniel clenched at that word…home. It was the same part of him that had clenched inexplicably when Toran's association to Vala had been made clear and the same part that unclenched with the story of his rejection.

Nobody else noticed his unease of course as details of the party were already being discussed. It wasn't right, he had to say something.

"What does 'kika' mean?" Okay, apparently 'something' was too vague a suggestion to his mind.

His interruption caught everyone's attention and Mother Najas took it upon herself to explain the nickname she'd given Vala so many years ago.

"Kika is the shortened version of pelkika. It's a very unique bird native to this planet. It's an animal whose greatest talent is adaptation. If ever a pelkika is separated from its tribe, it will join another or even another species entirely. It will learn their rituals, their calls and their habits and will imitate them until its death or next separation. In this way, our Vala reminded me of the pelkika. She came to us a sweet, if a little paranoid, girl and learned our ways until she was not only a recognized member of my house but a leader the younger girls looked up to." She finished with pride at her former daughter.

It was a sweet story but Daniel somehow filtered out all the sentiment and latched onto the iota of negativity.

"You were the leader of the  _daughters_." He drawled "Why am I not surprised? And what was wrong with Toran? Money not good enough?" he asked scathingly.

The tension was indescribable and Sunera tried to diffuse it. It was obviously just a little misunderstanding…

"Oh, Vala was never a daughter – well she was, but not in the full sense. That is, she was known as a daughter of Najas but-but she didn't – she just did chores, she never had …clients or anything. She just had the title for protection and, you know, because she lived here and worked here, but not-not like us." She stumbled.

Te'ali put her hand on Sunera's arm to calm the jittery brunette.

"There is nothing wrong with what we do here, Dr. Jackson." Sunera glowered, with a mocking emphasis on the term 'Doctor'. "It's good money, it's safe, it's fun and it doesn't hurt anybody. Besides," she continued, her glare turning into a smirk "Vala would never sleep with someone for money, she has to marry them first." She laughed winking at the subject of her comment who gasped in indignation.

"You were married?" Sam piped up.

Vala glanced at her ever so briefly so as to not lose the glare she'd directed at her  _former_  sister.

"Engaged, actually, briefly." She clarified

Daniel frowned.  _Déjà vu, anyone?_

"It's true, and  _I_  think it's something to be proud of. I mean, granted he was a lecherous relic but he owned half his town, or so I hear." Te'ali advocated in a way Vala wasn't so sure was meant to appease anyone's misgivings.

"Relic? How old was he?" Cam inquested.

"Just…34." Vala offered tentatively.

"Yes, 34 years  _older_  than you." Te'ali scoffed biting into another apple. "He was actually 52." She mock whispered conspiratorially to SG-1.

Vala winced.

"What?"

"That would mean you were 18!" Sam calculated.

Oh well, in for a penny…

"Actually, I was two months shy of 18 but I was very mature for my age." Vala defended herself.

Daniel, who had been struck speechless at the revelation, finally piped up, though he would wish he'd kept his silence before long.

"You always  _were_  like this then. My god, have you ever had a sincere moment in your life? You'll do anything for the right price, won't you? I don't understand, why didn't you become a full-fledged daughter then? Not enough of a challenge for you?" he bit harshly.

The table went quiet with shock. Sam's eyes nearly bugged out of her, she'd never seen this side of Daniel directed at a friend before. He  _had_  been coarser since Vala had come into their lives and had thwarted his chance to go to Atlantis but he'd never been this outright mean before.

Vala's face had turned pale under the weight of Daniel's words but she saw red. She got up slowly and spoke with a tightly controlled fury.

"You listen to me, Daniel Jackson, you don't know the first thing about me. And how dare you speak of sincerity when every word you say to me is dripping with sarcasm and disdain? I was going to marry that man for my own reasons and although his intentions may, admittedly, have been less than pure, he was a good man to me, he was always kind and caring and he never once, not  _once_ , made me feel anything less than good about myself. And that, Daniel, is  _so_  much more than I can say about you." She paused just long enough to make sure he was aware of the chill in her glare and then walked out of the room.

The silence wasn't broken until Daniel's chair scraped the floor as he rose from the table. The knot in Sam's chest loosened momentarily but tightened right back up when it was obvious he wasn't going to follow Vala; he was heading towards the door on the other side of the room.

"Jackson." Cam started.

"Leave it." Daniel ground out without turning.

"Stop! Just where do you think you're going, young man?" Mother Najas's warning halted him as he reached the door.

"Yeah, I'm not done giving you the evil eye. Wouldn't want the curse half done now would we?" Te'ali menaced.

"Listen to me boy, what she was planning to do, marrying that man, is admirable." Sinali began.

At their silent disbelief she continued.

"You heard me, admirable. She'd just left her-" she started up again only to be cut off the quiet Sunera.

"Sina," her brows furrowed in concern for their friend "they should know but…it's not our story to tell."

After a few seconds of pursing her lips, she conceded and fixed Daniel with a piercing glare.

"You are going after her. You are going to apologize to her. You are going to sit down with her until she's ready to tell you. So help me boy if I see any hurt in her eyes again because of you, there'll never be a piece of you to find." she promised him.

He considered continuing out the door. After all, he had no obligations to this woman, but there was a roomful of people agreeing with what his heart already knew: he was wrong, he needed to fix this.

* * *

He found Vala outside beating the daylights out of a dirty rug hanging from the linen cord with some kind of mallet. For a second he just stood outside the front door, wondering if he shouldn't come at a later time…perhaps a time when she wasn't armed and looking to inflict pain. But he steeled himself against his cowardice and started walking towards her.

He couldn't see her eyes from this angle and wished they could have the entire conversation like this. He couldn't stand to see those blue orbs darken with pain he caused again, not today. He'd done stupid things, questionable things and ugly things in his life but lately, all those things seemed to be directed at Vala. She was right, almost every word he spoke to her was in anger or disdain or frustration and she very rarely deserved them.

Since she'd come back from the Ori galaxy, she'd been trying so hard to fit in with them, to be the upstanding citizen they wanted her to be. But despite her efforts, once he stopped ignoring her or giving her monosyllabic responses, he still snapped and unstoppable torrents of cruelty flowed out of him. He was surprised, actually, that she'd let it go this far before saying anything. Maybe it was this place, knowing that there were familiar people here who loved her and would back her up no matter what she did.

That thought paused him mid-way to reaching Vala.

She didn't believe she had that with them. Push come to shove, she didn't believe they'd support her or accept her presence in their lives anymore.

And suddenly, the anger he'd felt towards himself sifted away to be replaced with remorse at everything he'd said or done to make her feel that way. He knew the list would be too long to draw up. He tried to swallow against his tightening throat and continued forward, no longer afraid of the constant battering of the rug with the mallet.

"Vala" he said softly.

She stopped mid-swing, half-cocked her head to the side and without acknowledging him she resumed her attack with renewed passion.

He stepped closer, close enough to see her face flushed with exertion and beads of sweat running down her face. He prayed to high heavens that it was just sweat.

"Vala, please stop." he repeated.

She went on for a few more whacks. Whether it was to prepare herself for this confrontation or just to make him aware that she didn't feel she was under any obligation to heed his orders, he'd never know. As long as she talked to him again, he didn't care. When she did stop, she dropped her arms to her side, breathing hard but didn't say a word and didn't turn to face him. Daniel knew he'd be the one make all the concession this time and he found himself more than willing. How did one start to apologize for months of abuse?

"I'm sorry."

To his immense relief, she turned to face him

"I'm so sorry." he said again, making sure she heard him.

Still she stayed silent, eyes fixed somewhere beyond his left shoulder.

"I shouldn't have said what I did. I don't know the story and even if I did, it still wasn't my place to say anything. Especially not things so mean, things that" he breathed deep "were meant to-to hurt."

Her eyes flit to his in surprise.

He couldn't look at her.

"I don't know why- I mean, I-I don't think-"

"No, you don't." she affirmed, finally speaking. "You assume. You assume that everything I do, everything I am is driven by selfish and self-serving incentives."

He wouldn't insult her by denying it.

"What else am I supposed to do?" he replied trying to restrain himself from injecting any frustration into the question.

"What?" she questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"Vala," he said "you might not be motivated by self-serving incentives, as you call them, but what am I supposed to think about you? You are amazingly tight-lipped about yourself."

He cut off the indignant retort that was coming with a single hand.

"You'll talk for days and days but never actually say anything. Any questions about you are handled with 72 differently spun tales and we're supposed to sift out the actual truth?"

She looked stunned and he continued.

"I don't know why you do it. You seem to want to know everything about everyone else and blend yourself into our lives but you aren't willing to share anything real about yourself. So I ask you again: what else am I supposed to do but assume?" he asked.

She mulled over his exposing statements. She'd never consciously kept things from her new friends. She'd never even noticed what she'd been doing, it was a natural part of her social personality to deflect any real questions. Vala stayed quiet as a phrase that had been taught to her by her father when she'd started her career as a con artist flew through her mind:  _If people are busy with the persona you present them with, they'll never concern themselves with the person underneath._

She looked him straight in the eyes and argued, "In the world I live in, giving personal information to people is a dangerous risk to take."

He nodded in understanding.

"But you don't live in that world anymore, do you? And we'd never use anything we know against you, Vala. You know that, don't you?" he asked earnestly.

She looked away but nodded slowly.

They were quiet for a while before she took in a deep breath to prepare her for the enormous piece of her past she was about to divulge.

"His name was Jiyom." she spoke to his neck.

It took him a minute to place the statement in their conversation.

He sighed lighty.

"I didn't mean to force-You don't have to tell me." he assured her.

"No, I don't. But I don't live in that world anymore, do I?" she reiterated locking her blue eyes with his.

"No, you don't." he agreed with a small smile.

She moved to sit on the wooden bench not far from the clothes line and he followed.

"His name was Jiyom Sonoresh, he  _was_  52 and I  _was_  18. I didn't love him and he didn't love me either." she started again.

Daniel frowned slightly.

"When I was 13 my mother died and before my 14th birthday, my father had remarried a horrible monster of a woman."

"Adria." Daniel supplied.

Vala nodded, pursing her lips.

"Adria. She was horrible. She was an old maid who'd never married because of her heinous reputation. She was beautiful though, and she did have a healthy dowry to give her husband. My father was a trader and was gone most of the time. He gave Adria full authority over the house and she used it to the full extent of its meaning. She'd beat me and my brother whenever the mood struck her, she spent our money without a care and cheated on my father with as many men as she could."

"You have a brother?" Daniel asked in shock.

The frown she'd developed while described her former stepmother melted away and he was graced with a soft smile.

"I had a brother, Macian." she revealed. "He was…my baby brother. A sweet boy, quiet but so curious. He looked up to me and I protected him as best I could. After our mother died, we were all we had left."

Her smile had faded as the conversation returned to her.

She resumed her story, jarring Daniel out of his vision of a young Vala chasing after a little blue eyed, curly haired boy.

"Long story short, when I was 16, my brother and I stole away to seek refuge with an old friend of my mother's in a neighbouring village. He was only 9 at the time. We wanted to start a new life away from our father and Adria. My mother's friend told me of a town called Meskanti across the travelling circle, the stargate, where I could work for a short time but make good money. She was oh so misinformed." she shook her head ruefully.

"I went there, leaving Macian in her care, and worked in a tavern and dress shop trying to make enough money to bring my brother to this new planet and make a home for both of us. I was there for a year and still I was barely making ends meet when Jiyom approached me. He actually owned both the tavern and dress shop and most of the rest of the town. He was an old rich man who'd been widowed young. He'd be dying soon and he was all too aware of it. He needed a companion until he died and I needed security for myself and Macian."

She paused and smiled wrily.

"You see? It was a business contract through and through. I'd be his wife and he'd bring my brother to Meskanti, send him to the finest schools and leave all his money to us both. We had it all in writing, approved and stamped by the legal authorities."

She trailed off for a bit, locked in memories of younger days when she'd actually held hope for her future.

"What happened?" Daniel pushed gently.

She cleared her head and plodded on.

"He wanted me to be his wife for a year as proof that I'd honour my end of the contract before he'd bring Macian to Meskanti but despite the almost complete lack of sentimentality or emotion in our relationship, I wanted my brother as a witness to my wedding day so I remained his fiancée for the year. At the end of that winter, we both went through to my homeworld to collect Macian – I hadn't seen him in two year – but my mother's friend had died and my brother had been returned to Adria." Her eyes clouded over with long forgotten anxiety.

"Word reached her that her step-daughter had returned long before we ever stepped into my old house. She had four Jaffa waiting for me, in my former home, in my kitchen. She'd told them I'd stolen from the temple of Qetesh and kidnapped her son. They took me away, killed Jiyom when he tried to stop them, and that was that. Qetesh noticed what a pretty slave I was and traded in her old host for a newer model." she finished matter-of-factly.

Daniel was silent, his heart beating harder with sympathy for her younger self. In light of what she'd just shared, he was sickened with the memory of what he'd said to her in the kitchen. She'd been through so much before even becoming a host, he knew it couldn't have gotten better after that.

"Do you know what happened to your brother?" he pondered.

Her face blanked.

"He was the third to die." she told him.

She didn't need to say whose hand had committed the act. Once the silence got too heavy, Daniel broke it again.

"I'm sorry, Vala. And I'm sorry for what I said in the kitchen. I-I didn't know."

He put his hand on her arm. She faced him with sad eyes.

"No, you assumed." she reminded him.

He was again reminded of all the things he'd said and done against her since they'd met. He couldn't change that and empty promises wouldn't mean a thing. The truth was all he could offer her.

"I don't want to hurt you." he vowed.

Her eyes softened for a split second.

"And yet, you do."

Her voice was soft but it sliced through him so hard he wished she'd just started beating him with the mallet before he'd ever opened his mouth. She gently shrugged his hand off her arm and rose.

She was walking away. She was leaving and he found it hard to ignore the tremble in his hands.


	5. A Lengthy Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone learns how Vala ever came to be on Creonas in the first place, including Vala.

The mood was high as they returned to the house after Vala's welcome-home party. Tensions between her and Daniel notwithstanding, the event had been a smashing success. Vala had, of course, been the center of attention as what felt like the entirety of Creonas's population had shown up to see her. Sam had also been surprisingly popular for an alien scientist.  
While the men had returned to Earth to explain the situation to General Landry and request permission to stay the night, Sinali, Te'ali and Sunera had ambushed Vala and Sam to fit them with the finest dresses the daughters could find at such a late hour. Both were tasteful dresses, for daughters of Najas anyhow: a midnight blue halter dress for Sam and a deep maroon wrap-around for Vala. Consequently, more than a few men had tripped over their feet before the alcohol had even been dispensed, a phenomenon from which the men of SG-1, dressed in their own party garb, were not exempt.

All in all, the night had been a welcome distraction and SG-1's buzz was a little killed when the party broke up at its height. Apparently, it was the custom on Creonas to end all celebrations mid-swing. It was ridiculous, they said, to celebrate in mass until their guests' thought of nothing but leaving. Therefore, they ended the party just past its peak and returned to their individual homes to wind down in smaller groups or families. Hence the high energy on the trek back to the house.

Vala was high, emotionally high anyway. She'd been swarmed in the town hall by hundreds of people she barely remembered but who clearly had cared for her and were happy to see her return. Her cheeks had been pinched red by elderly women, her hips had been groped by mothers looking for wives for their sons, and her feet had been stepped on by dozens of overly enthusiastic dancing partners. She was bruised and exhausted but she couldn't remember a time when her heart felt so ready to burst with joy.

Daniel, walking a little ways behind the group with Teal'c, watched as Vala animatedly recounted every second of the evening to Cameron, whose neck was peppered by a distinctive red colour that Daniel could only remember seeing on the blonde they'd encountered on their way to the house that afternoon.

Daniel had seen the masses accepting Vala's return with smiles and open arms, he'd seen the dozens of men sweeping her around the dance floor, he'd seen Toran.

The First Tradesman had been there when they'd arrived with his 8 year old son, Toranou. He claimed his son had desperately wanted to meet the infamous Vala but Daniel couldn't help but feel that Toran had wanted to gage the chemistry between the two for future reference. Little Toranou had, of course, taken an immediate shining to the engaging woman and had pouted all the way out of the room as his bedtime rolled around. Upon his return, Toran had stolen ever possible moment between partners to ask Vala to dance. She'd never refused. She'd grinned joyfully, breezed about the dance floor as if on wings and he'd never stepped on her toes. It was like a magical bubble had surrounded them alone as they swayed together and Daniel had been struck each time with the irresistible urge to look for a hammer with which to smash it apart.

They finally arrived back at the house and Mother Najas ushered them all inside the kitchen and bade Sunera to start some tea. Sinali had returned to her family and Te'ali was working out of the house tonight. As they waited for their drinks, Vala professed to Mother Najas how guilty she'd felt every time an ecstatic person hugged her and she couldn't place their faces.

"This one woman, Sunera you saw her, she had red hair, very curly, really skinny, she was practically floating in her black dress? Do you know who that could have been?" Vala asked them.

Sunera turned around.

"Oh Vala, yes I saw her. You really didn't recognize her? Her name is Clavall, she was one of the first people you ever met, or so I heard. I came here a few months after you arrived." she responded.

Vala frowned and shook her head. Mother Najas stepped in.

"Very interesting that you don't remember her, dear, very interesting." she breathed in deeply, "Although, under the circumstances, I suppose those aren't the memories you'd be wanting to keep." she nodded sagely.

Vala stared fiercely at the table, picturing the redhead from the party and trying to associate memories to her face. Sunera started serving the tea and silence reigned until Sam's curiosity overwhelmed her.

"Circumstances?" It was for Vala's sake anyway, she rationalized.

"Mmhm" Mother Najas nodded and looked to Vala. "Didn't you tell them how it was you came to us?"

Vala's eyes flitted quickly around the room before she divulged what had been bothering her since she'd stepped foot on the planet.

"I – I don't actually, that is, I have no memories of how, exactly, I came to be here." she admitted.

Mother Najas and Sunera shared a disconcerted glance before the rotund woman faced her again with look of unease.

"Do you wish to know?" she asked.

Vala blinked in surprise.

"Of course I do, why shouldn't I?" she questioned.

Mother Najas pursed her lips and shook her head slowly.

"Some things are best kept forgotten." she counseled wisely as Sunera nodded vigorously behind her.

Vala spent a moment looking into the old woman's eyes and then scanned for her teammates' reaction out of a newly formed habit. Sam's worried gaze probably mirrored her own, Cameron looked apprehensive, Teal'c looked battle-ready and her heart clenched in reminder before her eyes had a chance to settle on Daniel's face. That was a problem for another time.

"I need to know." she declared firmly.

Mother Najas nodded slowly and as her eyes flitted swiftly to the Tau'ri, Sam clued in.

"Oh, uh, Vala, would you like us to leave?" she asked politely.

Vala was about to agree when her confrontation with Daniel came back to her.

"No, stay. If you want, that is." she looked upon them "It's recently come to my attention that I haven't been the most… forthcoming person when it comes to my past."

Daniel was blessed with direct eye contact for the first time in hours.

"I might as well start correcting that now." she continued with a half-grin, "Besides, how bad can it be, right? I'm still standing so obviously, whatever it was, it's passed and I won."

She took a deep breath, shifted in her chair and faced the two Creonan women.

"Tell me."

Mother Najas broke the ominous pressure that had befallen them by declaring the kitchen to be unfit for such a story and they had to move to the sitting room where there was a roaring fire and comfortable sofas waiting for them. Their souls would be uneasy after the tale, she'd said, but that was no reason for their backs to be.

Sam had chosen the seat next to Vala. Teal'c had taken possession of the big chair near the fire and the other guys took the couch opposite the girls which left the middle sofa free for the storytellers.

Mother Najas looked into the fire and began her tale.

"It was barely morning when I first laid eyes on you. It was the beginning of winter twelve years ago. I had a girl, Hijoira, she doesn't live here anymore but she was working on another planet overnight and she tripped over you as she exited the travel-circle on her way home. It hadn't been clear to her that you were even human at first, you were so covered in blood she'd thought some idiot hunter had dropped their dead beast without noticing. When she finally overcame her severe disgust at the mess, she noticed the beast had human arms and legs and that words were coming from the tussled mass of hair on its top. She was a little slow in the head that one. You weren't fully conscious and Hijoira was just a stick of a girl so she ran back to the house to get help. We sent Toran and his older cousin Malrim to collect you and they brought you to the town healer, a very nice woman, she passed away four years ago."

She took a break while she sipped her cooling tea. The others all shifted uneasily in their seats. Suspense was really much more interesting when it didn't involve a friend's pain.

Meanwhile, too many questions ran through Vala's mind. Who left her on this planet? Why was she hurt? When did this happen? She had to literally bite her tongue to let the women speak. Mother Najas finally resumed her speech.

"Belain, the healer, worked on you for the better part of the two days that followed. She cleaned the blood away and we were all surprised to see a young woman, actually intact, we'd been sure some part of you had been severed with all that blood. She stitched you up, set your left leg and arm, braced your torso and then, she prayed. You'd lost so much blood and you weren't breathing right, Belain was convinced you weren't long for this world."

Vala gulped and felt an irrational anxiety for events that had obviously passed. Though she knew she'd gotten through the entire ordeal without any lasting scars on her body, she couldn't help but wish Mother Najas would get to the part where she healed up.

"It was the second night, you'd been shivering and sweating all afternoon and Belain had no more medicine to offer. You were half awake and mumbling crazy things, dark things, things that Belain didn't even consider repeating so I never knew. She'd left you for a moment to get extra bandages and when she'd come back, you were lying on the floor beside the bed and had taken your jeweled bracelet from the linen sack Toran had found near you. You'd put it on and Belain swore to high heavens that the jewel glowed before you collapsed. You were exhausted, she said, but breathing and with some colour in your cheeks."

"The Goa'uld healing device." Vala murmured.

Sunera nodded. "That's what you called it. When you got better you served as a healer as well, with that device. In fact you saved Sinali's life once, do you remember?" she prodded, wide eyed.

Mother Najas cut off any answer Vala might have responded.

"One story at a time, girl. And this isn't one to be interrupted." she hushed.

"Sorry Mother." Sunera replied meekly.

"After that night, your started to improve. Slowly, but gradually. Belain had to leave for her annual trip to the neighbouring village of Katas so I offered you a bed in the house. You still weren't entirely lucid, and you seemed convinced we meant you harm, so we ignored your words for the most part. You slept most of the winter away and only became really coherent in early spring. You told us your name and nothing else. We never knew how you came to be so injured though it doesn't take gifts of sight to understand you'd been viciously attacked. You healed the rest of your injuries, your leg and arm, yourself with the healing device and put yourself to work doing menial chores wherever you were needed." Mother Najas finished with a long suffering sigh but smirk suddenly.

"You went through stages after that. First you cut off all your hair and glared violently at any strangers. Then, once you were more comfortable and knew most of the townspeople, you started exploring every inch of the town. After that was the mirroring time where you'd copy the mannerisms of my daughters so well that I was getting bids from clients asking after you."

"Why didn't I become a daughter?" Vala spoke after a while.

Mother Najas's lips pursed as she recalled her reasons.

"Your early reactions to men led me to conclude that being a daughter would not be the path for you." she answered carefully.

Sam's hand which had moved to lie supportively on Vala's arm early into the story, tightened as she thought of what traumas could have befallen her friend.

Sunera nodded sadly. "I remember Te'ali bringing home a client one night and he bumped into you on his way out. You hadn't seen him, it was dark you see. You almost toppled over so he reached over to steady you and when you saw who'd taken hold of you, well you went hysterical. It took us days to coax you out of your room."

Vala frowned. "I don't remember."

Sunera looked at her in sympathy. "Maybe it's best that way."

During the whole sordid retelling, Daniel's eyes were locked on Vala and wishing he'd been brave enough to face her wrath by sitting next to her. He envied Sam for the comfort she could offer. And as Sunera spoke, his nails dug into the sofa cushions, effectively anchoring him to his seat in case the temptation to fly out and wrap his arms around her got too strong.

"Is any of this helping to restore your memory, Vala?" Teal'c asked, shortening his customary way of calling on her in an attempt to convey his sympathetic kinship to her.

She looked up and shook her head no.

"Vaguely but nothing really concrete. I remember using the healing device on a little girl but I'm fully healed in that memory. And the rest, I remember as much as I did in the forest on the way over here which isn't much."

"Do you know who did all that to you?" Cameron asked.

Vala's eyes conveyed the shudder that her body resisted.

She offered them the condensed version of events she'd desensitized herself to over the years.

"I was host to the Goa'uld Qetesh for a little over a decade. Twelve years ago, a Tok'ra operative incited a rebellion on the planet she ruled. The people captured Qetesh, and, ignoring the fact that there was an entirely different person in that body, they proceeded to torture said body. The Tok'ra came back, took Qetesh out, I refused to play ball and have my mind probed for her secrets so they dumped me back on the sordid little planet. The villagers spotted me and I was in no state to resist when they captured me again. Three nights in, I made my escape. I didn't know this planet so I must have dialed the wrong address." she grinned wryly "I suppose I was due for a bit of good luck."

The silence grew heavy again as everyone was lost in thought. What did one say to a victim of unspeakable horrors? SG-1 was no stranger to pain or even torture but there was always a goal in mind, there was always something they could give up to make it stop. She'd never had that choice, the villagers had been out for revenge and nothing she could do or say would have stayed their hand.

"Well," Mother Najas finally said, "I think we've sufficiently wound down from the celebration, don't you?"

Vala snorted softly.

"Sunera will show you to your rooms. We have many nice guest rooms. Don't worry, they're all very nice and very clean. Now go take some rest, it's been a very long day." she heaved herself up from the sofa with Sunera's help, said her goodnights, squeezed Vala's shoulder affectionately and disappeared into the corridor.

Sunera made them leave their cold tea on the table, and bid them to follow her down the corridor and up a set of rickety stairs. The guest bedrooms were all beside each other and Sunera gave instructions on how to reach her own should they need anything. They said their goodnights and Sunera latched herself onto Vala, squeezing her tightly. Her eyes slightly damp, she pulled back and said: "It's good to have you home, kika." She patted Vala's cheek and left, they all disappeared into their respective rooms.

* * *

Daniel's eyes had long ago adjusted to the dark and he'd been able to count 33 specks of unidentified material on the ceiling above his bed. He started again, just to make sure that the earlier assessments were still correct.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-

He sighed. Okay, obviously, he was suffering of a little insomnia but honestly, how could he sleep? In a single day, he accused a woman he cared about of being a shallow, grave digging whore, forced her to admit there was some validity to his assumptions, forced himself to admit that he had a real problem with her dancing with other men, and had sat through the retelling of her torture without being able to offer her any kind of comfort whatsoever.

His brain wouldn't shut off but through his screaming thoughts, the sound of a door closing and light footsteps in the hallway caught his attention. He cursed himself for not remembering who was in which room but figured any company would be a better distraction that those damn specks on the ceiling.

He put on the sweatpants he'd brought and the white t-shirt he'd worn in and silently made his way downstairs.

He didn't know whether to be overjoyed or frustrated when saw a familiar mass of raven locks staring into the dying fire in the sitting room. Vala was completely still on the sofa in her bed shirt and a familiar pair of boxers. She seemed to be entranced by the flickering embers.

He doubted she'd heard him come in, he could just turn around and make it back to his room without her ever knowing. But that wouldn't solve anything. He wanted to make things right between them and he wanted to be there for her if she'd let him. Might as well tackle both issues now.

In a move too reminiscent of earlier that day, he walked slowly behind her and called out to her quietly.

"Vala?" he voiced.

Where this afternoon she'd studiously ignored him, now she jumped startled and her body tensed as she recognized the intruder.

"I'm sorry," he said contritely "I didn't mean to startle you."

She slowly relaxed though he noticed her body posture simply created the illusion of nonchalance, her muscles remained tense.

He stepped around to the front of the sofa more confidently and gestured to the seat beside her.

"This seat taken?" he quipped with a shy smile.

She looked at him as if he'd grown an ear on his forehead but finally acquiesced and turned her attention back to the dying fire.

"I couldn't sleep" he explained needlessly, sitting down on the other end of the couch.

After a few minutes of uneasy silence Daniel turned to Vala.

"How are you?" he asked sensitively.

She took a deep breath, exhaled and pulled her legs crossed on the couch.

"I lied." she admitted freely.

Daniel forced down any instinctive bursts of disappointment. He wouldn't be like that anymore; he was determined to know the whole story.

"When?" he asked.

She cast her eyes to her lap.

"Earlier. This evening. After the party. I said I couldn't remember. I lied." she staggered.

Concern and sympathy blossomed in Daniel.

Her head turned partially his way as she continued.

"I remember the villagers. They were enraged and violent. They had no concern whatsoever for who they were beating to death. I remember feeling sick and not being able to walk right. I remember finding I'd dialed the wrong address and just…giving up where I lay. If Hijoira hadn't come along when she did…" she trailed off and Daniel found himself sending a silent thanks to the woman he'd be eternally grateful to.

She shot a quick glance to Daniel's face but found she couldn't hold his gaze. She couldn't say what she needed to if his eyes were looking into hers with such concern and care. It was too hard.

"I remember healing myself but I can't remember why, I mean, there was no point, was there? I had no one to return to, I had no plans, I had just come off of ten years of being host to a despised ruler…there was nothing for me. But I'd woken up and there was a woman caring for me, not hurting me, and I wanted to know more. I wanted to know why she was helping me, what possible reason in the world she had to-to want me to be…better." she broke off.

Her shoulders were stiff and the hands she was staring so intently at were shaking slightly. Daniel was through with holding back. He reached across and wrapped his hands around hers. She looked at him in surprise but he didn't back down.

"I'm sorry." he said, and she knew he was apologizing for more than just this afternoon's incident.

"I'm still not happy with you." she told him honestly.

"I know." he nodded "And that's okay. I don't deserve you to be happy with me yet."

"No, you don't." she returned seriously.

"Let me earn it back?" he begged.

She looked to their clasped hands, her hands had been so cold just a few minutes ago and now they were warm. She shrugged and gave him a small smile.

"I suppose I could do that." she granted him.

He squeezed her hands and smiled wider than she'd ever seen him…at her anyway.

He became serious again to ensure his sincerity was understood.

"I promise I won't ever assume anything about you again and I won't ever hurt you."

At her skeptic eyebrow he added. "On purpose."

Such promises would most likely be impossible to keep but she knew he'd try his very hardest to stay honest to them and that meant the world to her.

In an attempt to lighten the very somber mood, she took back on of her hands and shifted closer to Daniel on the sofa.

"So, just to be clear, in your quest to rebuild my supreme level of happiness toward you, you'd be oh, powerless, to resist my advances?" she grinned innocently and trailed a finger along his shoulder.

In waiting for his patented eye-roll and sigh, she completely missed his right hand flowing to her face and was therefore shocked to the core to see him smile softly and feel the warmth of his palm on her cheek

"I suppose I would be." he said, basking in the sight of her wide eyes and open mouth. He'd finally turned her world upside down for once and he totally loved it.

"Daniel?" she questioned hesitantly.

"Hmm?" he hummed distractedly, his thumb was stroking her temple softly.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm doing…what you want me to do" he smirk "and what I want me to do."

"And, what's that exactly?" she murmured, her eyes flickered closed as his touches soothed away the stress of the day.

He looked at her fondly.

"Letting you in." he said more to himself than to her as she had started to drift off into sleep.

"Oh good." she mumbled sleepily.

He removed his hand from her face and wrapped it around her back, bringing her to rest against his side. She shifted closer to his heat and laid her head on his shoulder; he let his hand drop down to her waist. He readjusted himself so that the corner of the sofa supported them both and turned his eyes to the last dying embers.

This had been such a long day. Revelations, fights, parties, more revelations and now…peace, actually. He was calm, he was warm, he was peaceful. He looked at the woman sleeping beside him and chuckled softly at the idea that she of all people had inspired in him a long awaited inner peace.

He bent his head down to lay a soft kiss on the crown of her head and inhaled the perfume she'd worn earlier that night. The scent of roses was the last thing he was aware of as he joined his vixen in sleep.


	6. A Road to Follow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff and life choices.

_He pushed a stray lock of black hair from her face and moved closer to place a loving kiss on her forehead. She was still sound asleep on her back, face tilted his way._ _She was spread out as much as the bed allowed with her left arm reaching to the top of her head and her right one clasped loosely in his left. He tried to curb the temptation to reach out and stroke the ticklish spot just two inches above her elbow. He leaned in again and kissed her cheek letting his mischievious hand stroke the length of her left side instead to settle on her hip. He kissed her lips softly, holding his breath to keep from waking her. His hand came upward again, this time taking the path beneath her tank top. She shifted a little as she began to wake and his lips met hers again to guide her into consciousness._

_She mewled softly and arched into his ascending hand. He broke the kiss and melted at the sight of her blue eyes glittering sleepily into his._

" _Good morning" he said._

_She smiled wide._

" _It is, isn't it." she replied and reached around his back to pull him to her again._

_She crushed her lips to his and his mind erupted in a colourful slew of incoherence. Warmth filled him from his lips all the way to his toes. He moved to cover her body with his, placing his elbows on either side of her chest to support most of his weight. Both of her hands were now underneath his t-shirt and were busy painting a sinful mural of desire across the expanse of his back._

_He leaned back slightly to catch his breath and savoured the sight of her bruised lips and flushed cheeks. He bumped her nose lightly with his and she smiled at him._

" _You know I lo-"_

\--SMACK--

Daniel's eyes snapped open furiously to face the attacker that had torpedoed him out of his fantastic dream.

There, above him, stood a sour looking Mother Najas wielding the stale baguette that would no doubt match the bruising on his forehead.

He frowned in confusion.

"What's…what?"

She glared at him.

"We have rooms designed exactly for this, you know."

She saw his confusion and stared pointedly at him and Vala.

Apparently, sometime during the night, they'd shifted positions on the couch. They were now lying down on their sides with Daniel laying between Vala's back and the back of the couch. Vala was using his left arm as a pillow and his right had wound around her torso. What was so wrong about this?

He took a second stock of their position and froze when an experimental twitch of his right hand revealed a soft, warm and quite fleshy material.

Oh…my… In a move quite reminiscent of his dream, his traitorous fingers had found their way underneath her nightshirt and curled themselves around her left breast.

Mother Najas harrumphed as she saw realization and mortification dawn on his face. The sound broke his wonder and he quickly pulled his lecherous hand out from under Vala's shirt only to feel her back stutter against his chest as she laughed soundlessly. She was awake.

She beamed a smile to Mother Najas.

"Good morning, Mother. Slept well, I hope." she greeted brightly without a care in the world.

The woman's eyes went to the ceiling. She shook her head and left to prepare the morning meal.

Vala stretched languidly and turned in his arms keeping as little space between them as possible. Her body was sinfully sensual against his but her eyes were shy and unsure. Daniel found the combination completely intoxicating.

"Good morning." he said with a soft smile.

"Morning" she smiled back.

"I'm sorry." he started and cringed inside when he saw the panic in her eyes.

"For the hand." he finished, offering her a view of the offending limb.

The panic receded and was replaced by a soft glow of joy.

"You didn't hear me complaining, darling." she reassured him coyly.

He only grinned and let his arm fall back down to her back, tracing unrecognizable patterns along its length.

"You know," she said, "I've been thinking for quite some time now and-"

Daniel cut her off.

"Quite some time? You were awake before me?" he questioned.

She nodded.

"And you didn't remove my hand?" he asked amused.

"Oh." she said "You know," she traced a finger across his chest and stared up at him with innocent eyes "the thought hadn't occurred to me."

"I bet." he smirked. "So you were saying?"

"Oh yes, well, after I woke up, I started thinking. I'm still somewhat peeved with you, though I am starting to endear myself to your newfound emotional rehabilitation, but it would be wrong to deprive myself just to punish you." she told him and he nodded bemused.

"That would be wrong." he affirmed with an inkling of where this was leading.

"I'm glad you agree. I therefore magnanimously grant you permission to kiss me."

"Magnanimously." he echoed.

"Very magnanimous, I thought." she grinned.

"Well, then I suppose I should graciously accept then." he whispered, leaning in.

"Good idea."

His lips touched hers and the only thought running through his mind was how his dreams couldn't even compare to the real thing.

Vala moaned softly and pressed herself into him. He coaxed her lips apart and –

\--SMACK--

"WHAT?" he roared and Vala hid her laughter in his chest.

Te'ali stood above them this time with a familiar looking baguette.

"Where'd you get that?" he demanded.

"From Mother." Te'ali smirked "She says the morning meal is ready and if you go any further with Vala she'll have to charge you."

Vala laughed harder at this while Daniel just rolled his eyes. She turned to her sister.

"We'll be right in, Te'ali." she told her.

"Mmhm." the daughter responded skeptically but left.

Daniel sighed and rubbed the reddening skin on his forehead.

"I suppose we should go." he said reluctantly. He had no desire to leave this cocoon of warmth they'd created.

"We really should." Vala agreed laughingly as her stomach gurgled.

Their lips met again quickly before they got up and went to their separate rooms to change for breakfast.

* * *

Vala finished dressing quickly and went downstairs to join the others. She walked into the kitchen to find the daughters had already finished and had dispersed to start their daily chores. The only ones sitting at the table were SG-1 minus Daniel who must have still been upstairs changing. Sudden insecurity took a hold of her as her mind taunted her with thoughts of Daniel, up in his room, mulling over the choices he'd made the night before and this morning. She tried to shove them aside and plastered a bright smile on her face.

"Good morning everyone." she bounced into the kitchen and took a seat beside Sam.

They chimed in their own greetings as she served herself to the eggs and fried potatoes in the middle of the table.

"Have you seen Daniel, Vala?" Sam asked.

Vala froze. What did she say? Yes, in fact he was wrapped around me this morning? What if he didn't want to tell people? What if they already knew and caught her in a lie if she played dumb?

Thankfully, the man himself saved her from having to answer as he appeared in the doorway.

"Hey." he greeted them all.

Her relief was short-lived as she was now faced with having to interact with him without knowing where they stood.

Not oblivious to Vala's internal frustrations, Daniel walked into the kitchen and made his way to the only empty chair situated between Teal'c and Cameron.

Vala watched Daniel surreptitiously as he walked to the empty seat and her heart jumped into her throat when, instead of sitting down, he picked up the chair and carried it to the end of the table beside her.

The others had glanced up in puzzlement when he moved the chair and shared a glance before returning to their small-talk and breakfast.

Daniel got himself a plate and filled it up before sitting down and caressing Vala's hand. It was a silent answer to all of her insecurities and her heart nearly burst apart.

She released this newfound energy and zeal in the form of a squeal and threw her arms around his neck to kiss him soundly.

His hand shot to the table to keep them from falling off his chair but kissed her right back.

This, of course, had interrupted the mundane breakfast as the rest of the team took in the scene with astonishment. Well, really, it wasn't easy to astonish Teal'c, especially since he'd seen this one coming a mile away, but Sam and Cameron were blown away.

Cameron raised his hand slowly to point at the happy couple.

"That's…new. Right?" he asked Sam, who was doing a great impression of a fish.

"Um…I think so. It's new to me anyway." she answered him.

By this time, Vala had released Daniel and had resettled on her own chair. Vala started munching happily on her eggs but Daniel sent Cameron a meaningful glance. He wouldn't have this all ruined because of any ill-timed misgivings.

But Cameron had only two words for them.

"Okay then." he shrugged and poured himself more tea.

Teal'c blessed them with a small grin and Sam, once her eyebrows had returned to their normal height, gave Daniel a toothy grin that promised that a certain silver-haired General would be hearing of this soon.

Daniel sighed with relief that his new relationship with Vala had been accepted so easily.

Vala started planning a shopping spree with Sam for dance dresses back on Earth. She broke mid-sentence when Daniel took hold of her right hand but picked right back up with a bigger smile than before. This time, he vowed, he'd be the only one spinning her around the dance floor in a curve-hugging dress.

* * *

The day went by fast. Sam had performed her tests on the minerals of the ruins and found nothing of interest but Daniel had taken a keen interest in the writing on the pieces of archway. Apparently, the language was very similar to that of the people of P2X-344, a planet they'd visited only last week that didn't appear to have any other ties to this planet. The anthropologist inside him was giddy at the thought of finding a link between two worlds that had never heard of each other.

Cameron and Teal'c had spent most of the day training and Vala had toured the town, reconnecting with her old friends.

Daniel found her at Sinali's house late in the evening, looking very much at home with the older woman's family. Sinali had a 6 year old son, Moian, and a 2 year old daughter she'd named Valiari. She told Vala she'd wanted to honour her memory but her name was ugly so she'd modified it. Sinali's husband was away for the week trading on another planet. And to Daniel's utter discontent, it appeared that Moian and Toranou were best of friends and Toran was there also, accompanying his son on his play-date.

Daniel watched the adults chat from the doorway and smiled when little Valiari had demanded Vala play with her. He'd discovered that he was generally happier now that his thoughts weren't plagued with negativity but the sight of her joyfully rolling a ball to Valiari filled him with mixed emotions. The act itself was beautiful, the location scared him. She was happy here, she had so many loved ones here. Would she want to stay here?

They were scheduled to leave after the evening meal which was in about an hour and Daniel desperately needed to talk with Vala before then. He interrupted Toran's flirting with very little remorse and made a point of wrapping his arm around Vala's shoulder and kissing her temple. The message was clear and Toran didn't seem to like it…the caveman in Daniel crowed with delight. Vala said her goodbyes and they started walking, hand in hand, down a small path leading to the lake.

"Have you remembered more people today?" he asked in an effort to stall.

She nodded excitedly and began to regale him proudly with the list of people she clearly remembered.

"You're happy here." he remarked quietly once she'd finished.

"I am." she confirmed slowly and they stopped walking to face each other.

"You have lots of friends here." he continued.

"I do." she nodded.

She wasn't going to make this easy, was she? He sighed and his brow furrowed.

"Do you want to stay here?"

There. He'd asked. Please let her say no.

"Live in Creonas?" she clarified.

He nodded weakly…she didn't say no.

She looked out over the lake and wrapped her arms around herself.

"It's peaceful here. There aren't many places in this universe where I'm welcome. It's a great feeling." she explained.

"You're welcome on Earth." he defended.

She snorted.

"By some, some of the time, yes. I have history here. And they still have the healing device I left, I could be useful to them." she continued.

She wasn't saying no. Daniel thought he must have forgotten to take his allergy medication this morning because he was finding harder to breathe.

"Do you want to stay here?" he asked again painfully.

She took a minute to respond.

"What if I did?" she asked him heavily.

It was a loaded question. What if she did? Would they all just go back home and live out their lives? Would he be able to walk away from her?

It was his turn to face the lake as he contemplated his answer.

"If you wanted to stay…" he started and Vala tried to prepare herself against every eventuality as he continued.

"You know, scans of the planet showed a lot more ruins. Like Toran said, this is a business planet, it's likely those buildings haven't been touched since the day they fell…There's potentially a lifetime of work out there." he pointed out purposefully, turning to face her to make sure his message got across.

Her wide eyes brimming with awe and wonder told him that it had gotten across. She vaulted over to him and leaped into open arms, catching his lips for the most passionate kiss he could remember experiencing. When she finally released him, he took a moment to realize the world wasn't actually spinning and then he was being dragged back up the path by a beaming Vala.

"Come on, it's time for the evening meal." she offered simply to his bewildered gaze.

* * *

The meal had passed quickly and uneventfully and consisted of the same members as their first meal together yesterday. Before long they were standing outside saying their goodbyes.

Te'ali's and Sunera's were rushed but wholehearted as they had appointments to keep in the next village.

Sinali wrapped her arms around the younger quasi-daughter and warned her that if she didn't come back soon, she'd find Vala and give her a sound whacking she wouldn't soon forget. Then she wiped the tear from her eye and yelled at Moian for not stopping his sister from eating mud.

Mother Najas was the hard one to face. The heavyset woman crushed Vala to her bosom like she had done the day before and didn't let go until Vala started gasping for air. She tucked a raven tress behind Vala's ear and patted her cheek.

"My heart is glad to see you at peace." she said as emotionally as she got.

"Thank you, Mother. I'm so glad I found you all again." Vala said.

"We are always happy to be found." she smiled and kissed her daughter on the forehead before shooing her away.

As SG-1 began to walk the trail leading to the stargate, Vala caught up to Daniel and blissfully secured herself to his arm.

"You didn't tell them we'd be coming right back?" he asked curiously.

She looked at him and smiled lovingly.

"We're not coming back. Not to stay anyway." she replied.

Daniel stopped walking to face her questioningly.

"But you said – "

"I said I'm welcome and useful here but I have a purpose on Earth. The Ori aren't going to defeat themselves." she grinned teasingly before sobering slightly.

"Besides…the Creonans saved me when I was hurt but, you Tau'ri…you, Daniel…saved me from myself. And I wouldn't give you up for anything."

He just stared at her in amazement and she shrugged.

"Besides, Creonas isn't going anywhere. I can always visit and you still have your ruins to cross-examine or whatever."

He smiled indulgently.

"It's cross-reference. And are you sure?" he asked.

"I'm sure." she told him certainly.

"Then, let's go home." he said significantly as they resumed their trek.

She smiled and remembered something Sinali had whispered to her before rushing off.

"By the way, Sinali said that 'since I wasn't dead and she'd therefore wasted a perfectly good naming opportunity on her daughter' that she insists we name our first girl after her." she winked slyly as her poor Daniel's face turned an adorable shade of red.

She kissed his cheek and pulled him down the path that would lead them home.

* * *

 

The end! Thanks for reading!


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